Letters to the Editor

Celebrate Safely

To The Editor:

Holiday celebrations have many important ingredients-family, friends and good times. But if your celebrations include alcohol, don't forget the most important ingredient of all, the designated driver. According to a recent survey conducted by Nielsen Media Research, 154 million American adults have been a designated driver or been driven home by one...that's equal to about half the U.S. population!

Our nation is making progress in the fight against drunk driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drunk-driving fatalities have declined 36 percent since 1982. Anheuser-Busch thanks all adults who choose to be or use a designated driver during the holiday season. Not only do designated drivers help save lives, using or being one shows that you care about your friends, family, colleagues and community.

Demonstrate your appreciation for people you know who have been a designated driver by logging onto www.whosyourbud.com and sending an electronic "thank you". And remember, asking "Who's Your Bud?"-the designated driver-before celebrating will keep us all safe...because Responsibility Matters. Sincerely, C.A. Verdon Consumer Awareness & Education Coordinator Anheuser-Busch Sales & Service Of New York, Inc.

Quinn Against Hate

To The Editor:

I applaud Council Speaker Ms. [Christine] Quinn for Day Against Hate, which involves visiting all five boroughs in our city and speaking about hate crimes and improving and fostering tolerance in our diverse city. This is in the spirit of the holiday season of peace on earth and good will towards all of God's children. She is setting an excellent example for all generations for all ethnic groups and for all communities in every state of our nation to follow. When a person or group of people stand idly by and ignore crimes, words, deeds and actions of hate it is a crime which is just as bad as committing the actual act itself. Let us stand together, join hands, eliminate hate according to religious, ethnic, racial, gender and disability differences.

What a wonderful world it would truly be if there were more people in leadership positions as Ms. Quinn, our council speaker. Kudos to her for her diligent work and the difference she is making in our city. Cynthia Groopman Long Island City

Restore Peace Icons

To The Editor:

As a 25-year resident of Forest Hills, and a Queens historic preservationist and World's Fair enthusiast, the mere fact that the N.Y. State Pavilion and the Tent of Tomorrow has not been maintained to date, is a dereliction of civic duty on behalf of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation. There is no excuse for delays in "acquiring the necessary funding" to restore and adaptively reuse these gems, particularly when they are financing the construction of new buildings around Flushing Meadows. This has been one of their shortcomings for decades. First we must pay respect to our heritage, our only foundation, enhance it with the citizens in mind, and then consider progressive projects in the ideal sense.

This is not only a site with a recognizable history, but an architectural, cultural, and historical icon of vast national significance, designed by the renowned Philip Johnson. New York had three World's Fairs, and the last two, the 1939 and 1964 World's Fair[s] were held in Flushing Meadows. If it was to undergo demolition, it would be a huge slap in the face to current and future generations, as well as our predecessors who walked the very matter of the NYS Pavilion and Tent of Tomorrow and World's Fair grounds, marveling over its technolog ical ingenuity, originality and spirit. This was a period of significant cultural reform, which challenged our minds, and influenced our daily norms, and infrastructure in several Queens communities, not to mention our nation. It is a landmark in every sense but title, and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission should calendar this "living museum" for a public hearing in the utmost, and pass a motion to designate. In fact, every remaining vestige of our World's Fairs, deserves to be preserved under NYC's Landmarks Law.

The plaque mounted on the bottom of these monuments is no match for a centerpiece, and is rather cliche in nature. A series of firsts shouldn't be the last for Queens, which is often the stepson to that of Manhattan. We the people, commonly referred to as constituents, implore Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation to act now on our behalf, and ensure that these monuments be stabilized, revitalized in an historically appropriate context, and possibly utilized for exhibitions pertaining to the '39 and '64 World's Fair with panoramic renderings. Fulfill the ideal by not making this a case for the history books, or a case in which only its symbolic representation is alive and well in Universal Studios, Florida. Is spiteful mistreatment and hesitation the vision of the future the World's Fairs envisioned? Michael Perlman Forest Hills

Hails Pigeon Feed Ban

To the Editor:

With regard to your article, "Flying Rats Swoop And Poop" in the November 14 edition of the Queens Gazette, I applaud City Councilmember Simcha Felder for his legislation to ban pigeon feeding and a $1,000 fine imposed on folks who feed the pigeons. The pigeons of New York City can be found nesting in virtually every iron gate and canopy on every store front in the city, letting their droppings cover the canopies and sidewalks in front of the establishments. I find this personally offensive and disgusting, especially in front of food stores and restaurants.

Of late, many storefronts have added a device with vertical pins to prevent nesting in certain areas of their structures, yet the pigeons, being resourceful creatures, have found ways to get around that.

While being respectful of the rights of animals, I personally would do anything to rid the city of these birds, using any means to accomplish that end. Martin Wishnewitz Jackson Heights